Madden catches pay-per-view event

By Tim Surette, GameSpotPosted Jul 24, 2006 1:30 pm PT

[UPDATE] Hour-long inside look at upcoming EA football game will be available August 4 for $20; features interviews with gamers, players.

Electronic Arts can always expect to rake it in whenever the publisher releases the latest edition of its Madden NFL franchise. Now the company, along with ESPN, is looking to tap in to the hardcore Madden fan for some more revenue.

The two entertainment giants today announced Inside Madden NFL 07, a pay-per-view program that will debut August 4 on ESPN.com and on television. The 60-minute show will cost $19.95 and will take gamers through the process of making the game, behind the scenes of the EA Tiburon studios, and through all the new features.

The production will also feature the perspective of five gamers with Madden chops who traveled down to Tiburon to get a sneak preview of the action. Dwayne Harrison, Jarvis Thomas, and Justin Chow, all Madden Challenge vets, will join MaddenNation.com co-owner Will Kinsler and Madden Nation participant Rod Winn in discussing the game and chatting with developers. A few current and former NFL players will also discuss the game in the show.

[UPDATE] EA has confirmed that the pay-per-view special will feature entirely new content, and will be different from the bonus features included on the Madden NFL 07 Hall of Fame Edition.

Madden NFL 07 will be released August 22 on the Xbox 360, Xbox, PlayStation 2, GameCube, DS, Game Boy Advance, PSP, and PC. Versions for the Wii and PlayStation 3 are also in the works.

146 Comments

  • darknferno12

    Posted Aug 25, 2006 12:40 am PT

    Did anyone actually buy this?

  • chazzx21

    Posted Aug 10, 2006 10:12 am PT

    So what it used to cost to buy NFL 2K5, it's the same price to watch madden being made. that's interesting. and when rwoot said watch them put a sugarcoating on last years madden, don't you mean put ANOTHER sugar coating on madden 2001.

  • Josue8549

    Posted Aug 2, 2006 2:58 pm PT

    Screw paying! Im waiting for EA's rights to player's names, teams and logos etc to be over so a better company can make competition and maybe force EA to actually move forward with madden nfl games....slackers! I was a big madden fan until I saw the light that is ESPN 2k5 and woke up. I luv football and it shames me Madden cant get it right with all the resources they have. Booooooo Madden Booooooooo!

  • rwoot

    Posted Aug 2, 2006 2:20 am PT

    Bottom line is economics 101. The market will bear the price the consumer is willing to pay. If there are enough knuckleheads willing to toss a Jackson down the tube to watch some lazy developers put a sugar coating on last year's Madden then more power to the people at EA and their investors. They are just doing business in a market that is difficult to be successful in and they are quite successful. I know where my 20 bucks will be.... in my wallet waiting for another one of the few decent titles to be released.

  • Muse_Luver

    Posted Jul 31, 2006 4:51 pm PT

    SO THAT'S why they've told us fudge all aboot the game... they want us to watch a poncy ppv video to actually make a decent option on buying it or not.

    Those people at EA... very shrewd.

  • grandmasterjey

    Posted Jul 31, 2006 4:51 pm PT

    dude, this is guay, pretty, pretty guay. Do you know what I could get 20$?

  • champthompsy

    Posted Jul 30, 2006 4:07 am PT

    EA Sports has certainly accomplished their goal. Many die-hard Madden fans feel compelled to watch this “inside look” at Maddens latest release.

    If you have $20 to blow then watch it. If you would love to see how the game is designed and programmed then suck it up. The bottom line is that it’s your decision. Don’t blame EA sports for intelligent marketing strategies.

    Look at the hype they've created.

  • thepeter

    Posted Jul 29, 2006 9:05 pm PT

    D'OH!

  • GaaraZanta

    Posted Jul 29, 2006 2:41 pm PT

    but danhatesmonkeys, who knows, if this is successful maybe they will start to charge for say bimonthly roster updates, like micro transactions. It could happen and I wouldn't be surprised( and when I say updates I mean injuries, state growths and stuff.)

  • danhatesmonkeys

    Posted Jul 29, 2006 2:17 am PT

    Alot of you should really think before you post about how outraged you are. How is EA trying to squeeze out a couple extra bucks of any shock to any of you? If you don't like it, why does it even matter? Here's some breaking news.. none of you are being forced in anyway to buy this pay per view.

    Here is another thing that may come as a shock..
    If you don't like it, don't buy it.

    This is a service that's being offered to those that are interested, it's not being crammed down your throat in any way. They're not charging for something important like a roster update. They're merely offering you the opportunity to check out some behind the scenes action.

    As absurd as the price might seem to some of you, not buying this is of no consequence to you. So for those of you who are "outraged", you're outraged over something completely of no consequence to you or anyone other than potentially EA.

  • dotfortune

    Posted Jul 28, 2006 6:38 am PT

    And now, finally, the EA monstor has become so large, so rife with pure evil, that it makes people pay for an Ad.

  • MidgetMookie

    Posted Jul 28, 2006 1:39 am PT

    Oh, and Going666, you are a fool, and a tool. If the gaming industry was just out to make money, games would cost more and more every month, comprable to gas prices. Oil companies are out to make money, EA is out to make money. Many other devs are out there to just make enough money to get by in life and to release their next game, which they pride themselves on and work countless hours on just to turn their imaginations into [virtual] reality.

  • MidgetMookie

    Posted Jul 28, 2006 1:37 am PT

    What's funny is that for $20 you could buy last year's Madden. Or Madden '01,'02,'03, and '04. (I got '03 for $1.50 at EB Games myself)

  • GaaraZanta

    Posted Jul 27, 2006 11:25 pm PT

    Going666 said, "Every single game every made was made in greed, jsut so that some rich guy could make a dime"

    Not true, should we look no further than some of the great freeware mods and games released.

  • Going666

    Posted Jul 27, 2006 10:27 pm PT

    Everyone is pissed at EA for being greedy? Whats the point of making games if not to make money? Every single game every made was made in greed, jsut so that some rich guy could make a dime.

    And why is this so rediculous? This is only the same as EVERY SINGLE SE GAME EVER MADE. Halo 2 special edition was nothing more then paying fora making of commercial, same with every other pecial edition game.

    Anyone here who this any company that isnt in it for the money is an idiot. If they wern't in it for the money, they would sell games at cost. Which would be maybe $10, if that.

    Anyone who says differently, and has bought a game or a special edition before is a hypocrite

  • gamefreak265

    Posted Jul 27, 2006 7:59 pm PT

    I'm not a sports gamer, and I don't like Madden anyways, but 20 bucks is too much. Save that money and there's 33-40% of the game itself. Anyone who will pay to watch this movie is going to be someone who will buy the game anyways. The only way I think this could be worth the money is if you get a 20 dollar discount/rebate on the actual game when you purchase it.

  • ultimate_zero

    Posted Jul 27, 2006 7:54 pm PT

    anyone that watches this payperview is crazy.

  • masterdeath31

    Posted Jul 27, 2006 6:46 pm PT

    EA is charging $20 too watch an hour long comercial that's twicw the amount to go to the movie theater. well all i can say is that "Madden Pay per View sounds as inticing as lighting my @$$ on fire

  • waluigi08

    Posted Jul 27, 2006 3:38 pm PT

    Lucky for me, I already know how they make these games.

    Here's the steps they take to make a new Madden game each year:

    1. Take last year's game. (They're 99% done just by doing this.)
    2. Update the rosters. Boy, I'm sure that takes a lot of hard work.
    3. Tweak one or two things, and call them "inovations" even though they do little to better the experience and sometimes even detract from the flow of play *coughQBvisioncough*.
    4. Charge $50-$60, which is a real shame. Even as a most die-hard football fan, it is not worth that much to buy that game again.

  • Going666

    Posted Jul 27, 2006 1:05 pm PT

    Why are you saying this is a bad idea? They can put it on for virtually nothing, and its OPTIONAL.

    It doesn't affect you in any way if you don;t want to watch it, its no loss to them. Even if a few people watch it they will make money. I don't see how its a bad idea.

    I'm not gonig to watch it, but still, calling an optional thing a bad idea is just stupid. If you don't like it, don't watch it. Your not forced to. But tis a good idea for those who want it.

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